Saturday, January 24, 2009

Pleasant day - enjoyed cooking the Vegetable Curry - Y to Pantomine

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Picture 1 is the Vegetarian Curry of which I spoke yesterday. I enjoyed cooking it and it was a success. It even looked like the illustration in my Hairy Biker's Cookbook.

OK, I was in the kitchen maybe 1½ hours but as I enjoy it, that isn't a problem. In the kitchen I always get a lift in spirits, perhaps to do with liking cookery books and being creative. I think I like the books because they've got bright colourful pictures in them and aren't just boring old text.

If I learnt anything from the trial-run it is to cook the dish for perhaps 10 minutes less in order to retain a little more texture in the vegetables. What you can see in the pyrex is the left-overs because I had cooked the meal in my Aluguss-Brater from Lidl. I don't know how that translates but it is a large oval cooking-pot rather like a Creuset but heavyweight aluminium and not cast-iron. Whatever it is, it always does a good job.

After lunch I delivered Y to Nottingham Playhouse to see Kenneth Alan Taylor's "Jack and the Beanstalk". It is the final performance today so it will probably be very good. The Playhouse panto is always good, but the seating is so cramped as to make it impossible for me. They will enjoy all that shouting !

The collage is Reg's camera bag.

Well, actually mine now because we've done 'swaps' and he has my Lowenpro rucksack type which was good but not really suited to my needs at all. I don't need a camera bag on my back which swivels to the front to give me instant access to my camera and gear while trekking through the Derbyshire Jungle. The one illustrated is old, heavy and capacious. Sounds just right for me dunnit? I can carry it securely on my wheels and it will hold all my camera stuff. In fact there are slots available for more lenses ....... !

I love it. Real canvas, real leather edges and solid. Also, there's room for my little Asus Eee ! My cup runneth over.

I've just had a call from Debra and spoke to both Ruby and Elli who were justifiably proud of themselves having done their 200 metres swimming under examined conditions.

Well done both of you

My responses to your previous comments.

JBW ..... I don't think that anywhere did Reg express 'disappointment' at not winning. And if everybody took your recommended course to avoid 'disapointment' by not entering, Competition nights would be slender affairs.

It seem to me one should feel a duty to the Club to enter at least occasionally even with slim chances of success. I've known Reg's pictures over the years and he has produced some crackers. Not always fitting Judges' pedantic requirements but, as you know, to me that is a matter for congratulation not a lack of offering 'incentives'.

Roy ..... Thanks for an alternative view of Thursday evening.

You make good points about Rupert Brooke and you are right that the circumstances of those years must be taken into consideration. It was an horrendous time, and Brooke was quite young. He wrote some memorable lines which have entered the culture. But Wilfred Owen for instance was much the stronger poet.

.......Roy, you are the clear winner of the Radiogandy Cup for the wittiest comment of the day with your 'duck identification'. It clearly is an "Ey up Mi" ..... Any fule shud know that !

Tilly (Hannah) ...... Hope your Cookery Class went well this morning. What a busy day - cookery. then panto, then Grandma to play with. But not really messing about because she is hoping to learn about 'smileys' and Vista, and perhaps other serious things too.

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.

David (Carry on Camping) .... I think the night of the torrential rain, and floating out of the tent on our airbeds was near a little stream at the bottom of the Holymoorside approach to Beeley Moor.

And didn't we think we'd seen a ghost? A chap, standing on the bridge, at 3am, miles from anywhere in the middle of a monsoon?

Reg ...... You are quite right to remonstrate with JBW - Quite out of order ! Only light-heartedly though. See my remarks above.

Pete (Mannanan) ..... Oh dear those Broadband et al prices are a bit wince-iducing aren't they. Would a dongle from one of the phone companies work on the Island ? I pay £14 a month for the Vodafone version. It is a bit slow but you have broadband wherever you can get a Vodafone signal.

As you say - lovely place to live - you pays your money and takes your choice !

Jill ..... You most certainly have not been ex-communicated ! Your comment arrived at 6.06pm and there wasn't an earlier one. I think that Google, Blogger.com, and Picasa 3, have been going through one of their occasional 'glitchy' periods. Must be the weather.

Glad you liked 'Testiculating'. I shall beaver away at a similar term for women. The trouble is the requirement for it to be printable in a family blog !

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Tomorrow I'm going over to Burton Joyce to collect Y and I have been invited to breakfast at 10am. Looking forward !

No real room for a quote tonight so ......

"Sleep tight - catch you tomorrow"


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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If a person enters any competition they should always be disappointed at not winning. The desire to win is really the only reason for entering in the first place. It is that human urge to 'compete to win' that is the driving force feeding competitions but we have to remember that same urge to win is the root cause of many wars and at least photographic competitions are usually peaceful, at least while the judge is present.
Sorry no offense was intended.

Anonymous said...

Your veggie curry looks great, I've always thought that if people could eat good curries they wouldn't miss eating flesh at all.

On the competitions topic - I didn't enter last week because I regarded that as the comp for the experts but I agree with Roy that the standard wasn't as high as one might expect though it should be pointed out that there were some excellent pictures. I don't think I agree with JBW that one should necessarily be disappointed at not winning but only if you felt that the winning entry was inferior. I was certainly disappointed at the panel competition to discover that, although I thought I had a good panel, several other people had entered undoubtedly superior panels!

It is already the case that some monthly comps are 'slender affairs' and it would be good if we could encourage more people to enter.

Anonymous said...

Am not coming to supper tonight, I don't like vegetable curry....it looks good and colourful though.

I've got a turkey crown joint roasting as I write, in freezer since Xmas. It says it feeds 2/4 people, you would have to be very hungry indeeed to eat half of this.

That camera bag looks good and solid, none of your flimsy nylon stuff. But isn't it a tad heavy?

Hope Y enjoyed the pantomime and isn't too hoarse from shouting 'he's behind you!'

Am not sure whether to watch Julie Walters in that play about suicide tonight - I like her acting, and I feel that perhaps I ought to watch it, but it sounds harrowing, and I don't want to go to bed full of doom and gloom - there is enough of that about at the moment in real life. Perhaps I shall record it - I have now sorted out recording in advance, son showed me a far more straightforward easier way than the manual said.

Unknown said...

The pantomime was great but was, in fact, ALADDIN. Kenneth Alan Taylor was superb (as always) - a panto written specially for a Nottingham audience will always go down well. The funniest bit was a take-off of Torvill and Dean - Ravel's Bolero and the purple costumes completed the picture! Also, the water pistols showering the audience were particularly appealing to my grandchildren .....

You can't beat pantomime for really superb entertainment.